Birds of a feather, flock together!

In our everyday lives, this idiom/proverb is so very true. Be it our friends, our favourite type of cousins or relatives, our acquaintances – we somehow end up being around or connecting with people who have something in common with us.

And with this confidence, I tell you, that I flock together (at an odd virtual level) with a lot of the weirdos of this world!

Take for instance, the case of a contractor who once came to my house for some renovation work and ended up cribbing to me “Auraton ko akkal kahan hoti hai madam” in reference to a squabble with his wife. He also coolly painted a wall pink – despite us telling him to use beige. When we tried to reason with him, he told us “Mujhe laga pink chahiye hoga” with no evidence whatsoever to support this feeling!

Or the case of my fabulous replacement maid – Vandana Maushi :)

Or that disgusted call centre employee who wanted to know “which credit card is holding you now madam”.

Or even a taxi driver who once overheard an entire conversation I had with my mom regarding buying a house and remarked quite confidently that I don’t look like I could afford a house in Bambai! [If you want to know his exact words – “Maidum, aap bambai mein ghar to nahi le paoge” – (Kyun Uncle) – “mein logon ko dekhte hi samajh jaata hun”]

Or,

The curious case of my regular electrician.

Mr Diaz. About 45 years old. He is unkempt, shabbily dressed and has only half a front tooth which makes him look permanently under pressure. But contrary to his outward image, he’s a very calm and cheerful person. His English is particularly engaging. Whenever I call him for some work, he always answers the phone with: “Hello, Now what happened?”

So on cue, one fine day, my geyser fell ill! Mr Diaz landed up, inspected the geyser and said “There is a problem with the geyser”. (He seemed to have forgotten that I had indeed called him to address a problem with the geyser). And then continued with “Geyser is gone”. And continued still further with “Your geyser ko repair is needed”.

By this time, already blown away by his phenomenal discovery, I had started to fumble with words. And before I found a few correct words, he started working his magic on the geyser. He sorted the geyser out; gave it the love it needed and it was back to heating up water like a pro! He took his fees (which is generally just ANY figure that pops up in his head – regardless of the actual quantum of work he puts in). And then he left saying “what this is, all times your electric problem happens”, accompanied with a long chuckle and a shaking of the head. Sigh.

A couple of weeks later I received a Whatsapp message from an unknown number - “Hi how geyser”

You know who it was from, right?  :) I didn’t reply. I didn’t want to start a Whatsapp messaging habit with him. He later called in the evening and asked me in a clearly annoyed voice “Why reply you didn’t do to my what up message that time” – I told him I don’t use Whatsapp much (Tee hee) and discussed how the geyser was working fine - “it will work only no after I repair it myself”.

The phone call got me thinking. I had very quickly, easily and coolly stereotyped Mr Diaz as someone who’d not know his ways with tech advancements, or have business skills like following up or even be someone who is open to trying new things. Yet, he had clearly stumped me with his ‘what up’ message.

And it’s then that it dawned! He’s like me. Of course we are not totally similar. But we both have our weird eccentricities and idiosyncrasies. And maybe that’s why I actually noted these exchanges and quirkiness. My husband too has been around mostly whenever Mr Diaz has come home. But he never seems to notice all these small minor things :)

And this is when the other thought hit me. Birds of the same feather flock together, don’t they? At some celestial or virtual or surreal level, all similar people within our immediate universe, somehow find a way to connect with each other, even if for a little while, in any way and add to the innumerable experiences that the world goes through :)  And it takes one to recognize the other ;)

I often get asked how I end up encountering weird people regularly in life. Well, I hope you've found your answer. I am weird. And so, I find a way to find other weirdos and together, we quirk up the world just a little bit more for you! :)